Q&A with Muslim Youth Voices Director on “Shondaland”

As a young, black Muslim American girl, Mikel didn't always feel welcome in her own religious circles. In the poem, she writes that her black skin color was "a sign of dirt."

For Women’s History Month, CAAM partnered with Shondaland, a website founded by television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes, and WORLD Channel to highlight some of the young women filmmakers from CAAM’s Muslim Youth Voices Project.

CAAM Content Manager interviews filmmaker Mikel Aki’lah Jones, who shares more about facing discrimination within her religious community, and how it catalyzed the creation of her short film, Black Muslim Woman, which she created through MYVP.

When I was six I spent 30 minutes trying to scrub the black off my face
Little girl looks me in the eyes and said, I’m sorry God made you so dark
It only made me want to scrub harder